Saturday 8/03/2019     Our trolley ride today began at 12:30 so after our breakfast of bacon and eggs, I worked some on the computer and Rose worked on a puzzle.  Around 12:10 we took the very short walk over to the visitor's center to board the trolley.  Our driver, Vera, talked for most of the 90-minute tour explaining a lot of the history of Butte.  It was established in 1984 as a mining camp.  It was one of the largest copper towns in the American West.  Workers from all over the world settled here to work in the underground mines and later in the open-pit mines.  For many years it was a boomtown.  The workers made a decent living, although it was a dangerous one as there were many deaths in the mines, and the owners (called The Copper Kings) made a fortune.  The underground mines were closed and the open-pit mine, named The Berkeley Pit opened in 1954 and it closed in 1983.  The Berkeley Pit was our only stop on the tour.  We stepped off the bus and walked through their gift shop to enter a cement encased walkway to the viewing area for the pit.  At the bottom of the pit mine was a large lake created after the deserted mine's water pumps were shut off.  This lake is totally unsafe for human or animal consumption.  It's full of acidic water laced with toxic heavy metals.  In fact, it killed hundreds of geese one year when they landed on it.  We continued driving through the old uptown, taking photos of many of the old, architecturally pleasing homes.  There were many expensive mansions in part of the town and many impoverished almost shacks in other parts.  This is a decaying town but the people that remain are still trying to revive it.  There's an almost abandoned China Town, a red-light district that was shut down years back and old buildings in need of repair.  There are still many businesses such as small restaurants, antique stores, banks, etc. that are still in business.  After driving through town we drove to their university, The Montana School of Mines which was established in 1889 (now called Montana Tech).  The university specializes in Engineering, Geologic, and Hydro-Geologic research.  Many of their graduates are hired by mining companies.  Vera said the tuition, in the beginning, was only $ 5.00 a year, I wonder what it is now.  We drove back through the uptown area with Vera pointing out additional historic buildings and then she dropped us off back at the visitor's center.

We needed groceries for the week ahead in Glacier so after we walked back to the trailer, we drove a few miles to their Walmart outside of town and stocked up.  Tomorrow morning we pack up and head for a brand new RV park near Glacier.